The scenic bluffs and hills of southeastern Minnesota are part of its treasured landscape.

Now the battle between the companies that want to mine its sand and Minnesotans who are worried about the impact the work poses has come to the state Capitol.

Dozens of residents and public officials from southeastern Minnesota called on lawmakers Tuesday, Feb. 19, to halt to new silica-sand mining operations until health and environmental effects can be further studied.

"We do not want industrial-scale frack sand mining to happen in Minnesota like it's happened in Wisconsin," said Bobby King, an organizer with the Land Stewardship Project.

"It's destroyed people's quality of life, their rural communities, their air and their water, their farms."

King urged lawmakers to pass legislation that:

-- Establishes state-level permitting standards.

-- Enacts a moratorium in affected communities while the standards are created.

-- Requires an in-depth study of environmental impacts.

-- Imposes fees and taxes to offset damage to roads and other costs.

Industry representatives said they are open to monitoring in order to generate health and environmental data, but they said there is no reason to freeze operations while that is done.

"We need to continue on, collect the data, and if there are changes in regulations, these individual operations need to comply with the new standards," said Kirsten Pauly of Sunde Engineering, representing the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council.

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The issue of how to handle proposals to tap the area's rich deposits of silica sand used in hydraulic fracturing -- or "fracking" -- in oil and gas production in western North Dakota and other states has been largely handled locally in Minnesota. But county and municipal officials argue they're in over their heads.

Two busloads of people, about 70 in all, arrived in St. Paul from Winona, Houston, Fillmore and other southeastern Minnesota counties to hold a news conference on the issue, followed by a joint meeting of House and Senate energy and environment panels.

Attendees wait for an open seat in the doorway of an overcrowded state Capitol hearing room. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall)

"Mining supporters argue that local government can resolve all the issues without state government intervention," said David Williams, a Preble Township supervisor. "They argue that state entry into the silica sand mining debate would only duplicate what local government is already doing. They're wrong."

The hills and bluffs of western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota hold easy-to-mine deposits of highly pure silica sand with round grains that are the ideal size, shape and hardness for hydraulic fracturing. Drillers force a mixture of sand, water and chemicals into deep rock formations to break up the rock and release oil and gas.

"We have the best possible frack sand in the world in the worst possible place," said Jody McIlrath, a planning commission member in Florence Township and president of Save Our Bluffs.

Critics fear silica mining is a health threat. The documented dangers of workplace exposure to fresh silica dust include silicosis and lung cancer. Little research exists on whether residents downwind or along sand truck routes face similar risks, but the state Department of Health expects to release ambient air guidelines this year for silica, which could be used in the permitting process.

Other opponents expressed concerns about potential effects from the mining activity on groundwater, property values, truck traffic and other issues.

Industry representatives said many of the mining companies are longstanding businesses that have operated responsibly amid heavy regulations and provided good jobs. They said local governments have been dealing effectively with mining issues.

"We feel they are the best suited to decide the local land issues," said Mike Caron, director of land use affairs for Tiller Corp., which recently obtained permits from North Branch to build a sand drying facility.

"They are each unique, and each of them should be studied on their own so that all of the local issues and concerns can be dealt with."

But King said silica sand mining is different from what's come before and current regulations are obselete.

Opponents are pushing for the state-imposed moratorium to replace several local moratoriums that expire soon or have already expired.

"We have to find a system to make sure that we look at the whole picture.

The jobs are important, yes. So is the health, so is the water quality," said John Marty, DFL-Roseville, chair of the Senate Environment and Energy committee.

"You heard from a number of local officials saying we don't have the capacity, the knowledge, resources to regulate it. They clearly want to be heavily involved in it, but they also say they're going to need some backup of the state's expertise."

Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, has introduced a bill designed to protect environmental resources in silica sand mining areas. He said Tuesday that he will introduce a bill Thursday that would broaden the state's oversight and call for a study.

Marty has scheduled a meeting of his committee for next Tuesday to hear bills related to silica sand mining.

This report contains information from the Associated Press. Doug Belden can be reached at 651-228-5136. Follow him at twitter.com/dbeldenpipress.